Pioneering as a Value: How Discuss.io Helps Unilever Innovate

In order to be at the cutting edge of consumer-centricity, Unilever is building an “insights engine,” an approach that uses insights as a springboard to “inspire and provoke to enable transformational action.” Selin Cetinelli, Unilever Consumer and Market Insight Director, recently published the cover story in ESOMAR’s October 2016 issue of Research World. In the article, Discovering the Magic, Cetinelli discussed how Unilever is upholding their core values in the face of this shifting focus.

Their values are four-fold: respect, integrity, responsibility, and pioneering. We’d like to focus on pioneering.

As part of their mission to be pioneering, Unilever launched an incubator called Foundry. At Discuss.io, we are familiar with Foundry. Not only have we been fortunate enough to have a long relationship with Unilever as one of our customers, but we are also one of only 37 technologies that the Foundry has scaled up and invested in, out of more than 650 screened and 175 piloted.

In the article, Cetinelli explicitly calls out Discuss.io as an integral part of Unilever’s mission to take intellectual risks in order to stand out in the industry. Cetinelli says, “in terms of new techniques, Discuss.io, the online consumer-connection video platform, was one of the start-ups brought in [to Foundry]. This ‘always-on’ platform helps to arrange virtual meetings with consumers anywhere, anytime… Some category presidents use the platform to engage with people in a country they plan to visit, asking about their needs and exploring opportunities for Unilever. This helps the presidents focus their conversations with local managers when they arrive” (p. 21).

Like Unilever, we are pioneers in market research. Working in tech, we know that stagnation is not an option. Through our work, not only do we push ourselves and our customers to be innovative in their work, but we also have a larger vision to change market research as an industry. As pioneers, we choose not to take the easy road. While the road may be unpaved and bumpy, it’s also the very same path that allows for the greatest, most impactful breakthroughs. We have had great success in realizing our vision so far and are constantly striving to innovate and elaborate on it. We are honored to be on this journey with Unilever and our other wonderful customers.